Tournament of Power - Average Mortal Level (AML) EXPLAINED

[Kastex]

As we know, losing universes in the tournament of power will be erased by the omni king, this will include the god of destruction and the kai. In the recent episode, it has become apparent that the purpose of this tournament of power is to eliminate weaker universes so that the strongest universe remains. this is based on the average mortal level (AML) system. because the tournament is based on this system, universes 1,12,5,8 will be exempt from participating in the tournament since their AML is above 7. it has been stated that universe 9 has the lowest AML (1.86) while universe 7 has the second lowest AML (3.18).

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now, what you need to understand about AML is that it is based on ALL of the mortals in a particular universe. it is not exactly accurate for determining which universe is stronger, unless the system also accounts for how many mortals are in each universe, which i doubt. it is reasonable to believe that universe 7 has a higher AML than universe 9.
We've seen the god of destruction for universe 9. he is extremely passive and does not destroy much. this will lead to an overpopulation of weak beings in universe 9. this will drop their AML by a lot.

In contrast, we've seen destruction in universe 7 ever since the saiyans we've known to eliminate life on planets. we've also seen Freeza who was an asshole that destroyed many planets. we've seen majin buu who for millions of years (apparently) has been destroying planets. even just in the dragon ball z timeline, majin buu (kid buu) has destroyed at least 20 planets trying to find goku and vegeta. All of these destructive acts not only means the weaker mortal are being eliminated, but also that the survivors are getting stronger from these experiences.
Then when beerus showed up we've seen him destroy many planets. on top of that, the battle between beerus and goku destroyed an insane number of worlds.
Even after all of this, we know the supreme kai and the z fighters to be fighting to preserve life in universe 7. we also have to keep in mind that beerus sleeps most of his time away. it was even stated in the recent episode to remind us of this.

You see, the AML does not accurately determine the strength of an entire universe. that is the point of the tournament of power to begin with. if it was simple as determining AML, then zenchan would simply destroy all universes with an AML below 7. this is not only for zenchan's enjoyment, or because us viewers want it, but because it gives one of the universes to prove they are stronger than their AML and fight for survival.

any questions?

[Akyon]

So...did Goku and the gang screw themselves over by killing Frieza, Cell, Dabura, Tagoma, King Cold, Dr. Gero, 19(if he counts), the Ginyus, Zarbon, Dodoria, Nappa, Raditz, etc?

[Cipher]

Not a single word spoken this episode indicates the "Average Mortal Level" is used to measure strength.

If anything, Beerus and Kaioshin's exchange seems to imply that, at least in their minds, it's referring to the general progress of civilizations. (Beerus accuses Kaioshin of being too passive in letting "mortals develop their planet's level" on their own.)

There's also the Daishinkan's phrasing of "average level across all populated stars (星)," which would be a slightly odd way to refer to average individual strength. It makes more sense as an average of collectives.

We have multiple instances of the system being applied to "planets," but never one of it being applied to individual beings.

unless the system also accounts for how many mortals are in each universe, which i doubt.

The Daishinkan is quite explicit about it being a mathematical average of the "level" of all populated planets.

I'm drawing this from the Daishinkan's response to Beerus, which I just rewatched:

"第七宇宙で人間がいる星の平均レベルは 3.18."

(Dai nana uchu de ningen ga iru hoshi no heikin leberu wa 3.18.)

Lit. "The average level of planets where mortals/humans live in Universe 7 is 3.18."

平均 (heikin) is the word for "mean" or "average" in the mathematical sense. The units in question here are not individual mortals, but rather populated planets as collectives.

[Kastex]

Not a single word spoken this episode indicates the "Average Mortal Level" is used to measure strength.

If anything, Beerus and Kaioshin's exchange seems to imply that, at least in their minds, it's referring to the general progress of civilizations. (Beerus accuses Kaioshin of being too passive in letting planets "raise their level" on their own.)

There's also the Daishinkan's phrasing of "average level across all populated stars (星)," which would be a slightly odd way to refer to average individual strength. It makes more sense as an average of collectives.

We have multiple instances of the system being applied to "planets," but never one of it being applied to individual beings.

yes, i agree.

i doubt the AML accounts for the number of mortals in a universe while being compared to each other universe. let's say for example universe 8 has one mortal in the universe and that mortal is about as strong as vegeta. let's say this would make the AML 8. now let's say universe 2 has 1,000,000,000,000,000 mortals in the universe. 1 of those mortals are as strong as the only mortal in universe 8, but the rest of the mortals are less than 5% as strong as that. because the average number of mortals in that universe 2 example are so much weaker, it would drastically decrease the AML.

this is why the AML is not accurate for determining the strength of the strongest mortal in a universe. goku can easily be stronger than all other mortals in every other universe. he probably isn't, but my point is that AML won't tell us.

you are right that it has not been officially stated that AML directly determines strength, or over all power level. i believe this is the only thing that makes sense though, considering this is the tournament of power and some universes are exempt from participating based on AML alone.

[Cipher]

you are right that it has not been officially stated that AML directly determines strength, or over all power level. i believe this is the only thing that makes sense though, considering this is the tournament of power and some universes are exempt from participating based on AML alone.

I would argue that the system being used to indicate strength makes very little sense in the context of it being applied to populated planets as collectives, rather than taking an average of individuals.

Granted, we don't know what exactly the system takes into account at this point -- it could be anything. I just find it very unlikely given the Daishinkan, Beerus and Kaioshin's dialogue this episode that it refers solely, or even primarily, to combat strength. I think were this system to have been referenced in any series other than Dragon Ball, that reading would be the last thing on anyone's mind.

Again, the unit going into the average is planets -- not individuals or fighters.

You could say it's an average of the average strength of fighters on populated planets, but that's ... pretty obtuse.

[emi_b7]

Not a single word spoken this episode indicates the "Average Mortal Level" is used to measure strength.

If anything, Beerus and Kaioshin's exchange seems to imply that, at least in their minds, it's referring to the general progress of civilizations. (Beerus accuses Kaioshin of being too passive in letting planets "raise their level" on their own.)

Exactly. Kaioshins' job is to create and/or stimulate life, hakaishins' job is to destroy low quality planets (whether they measure that by progress, amount of conflicts, just being good people or whatever I don't know, but I don't think it is about strenght). Beerus sleeps a lot and destroy planets because of silly things (mostly food), U7 Kaioshin doesn't really do a lot and spent most of his time trying to locate and prepare for Buu. It's no surprise that there would be a lot of shitty planets in this universe.
On that same note, it is not surprising that the universe with the lowest score (U9) has a God of Destruction who doesn't like to destroy things and the asshole Kaioshin.

[Sandubadear]

There's no indication the average level is based on strength. It's more likely that it's a level of civilization and technology.

[Kastex]

There's no indication the average level is based on strength. It's more likely that it's a level of civilization and technology.

i don't know. if it wasn't about battle power, then why hold a tournament based on battle power and select participating universes based on AML?
if AML was based on progress, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants can build the most high tech device, or something.
if AML was based on survivability, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants can survive best in different environments.
if AML was based on kindness, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants could be so kind to make the other participating universe choose to sacrifice their selves to save the most kind universe, but then wouldn't the most kind universe choose to take the fall anyway?

my point being, why would there be a fighting tournament of power based on an AML that has nothing to do with battle power? if something else was valued over strength here then why would universes that lose in a battle of strength have to be erased, and the only surviving universe being the one that has the most strength?

[Kastex]

There's no indication the average level is based on strength. It's more likely that it's a level of civilization and technology.

i don't know. if AML wasn't about battle power, then why hold a tournament based on battle power and select participating universes based on AML?
if AML was based on progress, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants can build the most high tech device, or something.
if AML was based on survivability, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants can survive best in different environments.
if AML was based on kindness, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants could be so kind to make the other participating universe choose to sacrifice their selves to save the most kind universe, but then wouldn't the most kind universe choose to take the fall anyway?

my point being, why would there be a fighting tournament of power based on an AML that has nothing to do with battle power? if something else was valued over strength here then why would universes that lose in a battle of strength have to be erased, and the only surviving universe being the one that has the most strength?

[Kastex]

There's no indication the average level is based on strength. It's more likely that it's a level of civilization and technology.

i don't know. if AML wasn't about battle power, then why hold a tournament based on battle power and select participating universes based on AML?
if AML was based on progress, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants can build the most high tech device, or something.
if AML was based on survivability, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants can survive best in different environments.
if AML was based on kindness, then the tournament should be determining which universe participants could be so kind to make the other participating universe choose to sacrifice their selves to save the most kind universe, but then wouldn't the most kind universe choose to take the fall anyway?

my point being, why would there be a fighting tournament of power based on an AML that has nothing to do with battle power? if something else was valued over strength here then why would universes that lose in a battle of strength have to be erased, and the only surviving universe being the one that has the most strength?

i think that deciding to hold a tournament based on battle power and select participants for destruction based on something else entirely would be like building a video game console specializing in watching TV. it simply wouldn't make sense.

oops. accidentally pressed the reply button instead of edit.

[TheMikado]

Here is my take on this.

The tournament of Power is literally that.
Further this indicator, whatever it is. Is being used to weed out a number of universes. In the context having it based on technology or civilization means little sense as quite possibly an advanced universe or civilization like the truffles would be very weak in the tournament and likely wiped out. Further is makes little sense to me to exclude certain universes from the rule and taken with the Omniking considering to retract the universe destruction rule if universe 9 wins it's even stranger to assume its anything but strength. Further the statement about the Omniking being pleased about the two lowest AML universes putting up an entertaining fight makes even less sense if it about anything other than fighting level such as civilization level.

I'm not pretending to know what it means, but in the context of the entire tournament it doesn't make much sense have a tournament of power while rewarding the most "civilized" universes.

[Doctor.]

Not a single word spoken this episode indicates the "Average Mortal Level" is used to measure strength.

It's implied. The Grand Priest specifically states that it's a surprise that two universes with such a low mortal level could produce such great matches, implying that strength is a factor.

[UpFromTheSkies]

Hmm it could be something similar to the Kardashev scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

I'm hoping it's based on power level though because Goku and Vegeta seem like they can't get any stronger right now, and for the story to really progress and last something needs to happen that expands their world and makes them small fish again, and this is the perfect opportunity for that. And Beerus did tell Goku, if I remember correctly, that he's one of the weaker Gods of Destruction, so it would make sense that his universe is close to the bottom of the scale in power.

[TheMikado]

Hmm it could be something similar to the Kardashev scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

I'm hoping it's based on power level though because Goku and Vegeta seem like they can't get any stronger right now, and for the story to really progress and last something needs to happen that expands their world and makes them small fish again, and this is the perfect opportunity for that. And Beerus did tell Goku, if I remember correctly, that he's one of the weaker Gods of Destruction, so it would make sense that his universe is close to the bottom of the scale in power.

Black said Beerus was the most troublesome of the Gods.

[Cipher]

It's implied. The Grand Priest specifically states that it's a surprise that two universes with such a low mortal level could produce such great matches, implying that strength is a factor.

That could, and likely does, simply mean they're to be commended for putting on such a good show despite being from backwater universes. It's poverty tourism. It isn't so much "Oh, these universes have good fighters even though you'd expect them to be weak (though perhaps having fewer resources does correspond with that)," it's "My, even these poor universes showing us they have something worth presenting to Zeno."

Universes 9 and 7 aren't up first because of strength, at least from anything we know now, but likely because they're first on the chopping block/most expandable should the exhibition match not go as planned.

[UpFromTheSkies]

Hmm it could be something similar to the Kardashev scale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kardashev_scale

I'm hoping it's based on power level though because Goku and Vegeta seem like they can't get any stronger right now, and for the story to really progress and last something needs to happen that expands their world and makes them small fish again, and this is the perfect opportunity for that. And Beerus did tell Goku, if I remember correctly, that he's one of the weaker Gods of Destruction, so it would make sense that his universe is close to the bottom of the scale in power.

Black said Beerus was the most troublesome of the Gods.

Troublesome doesn't necessarily mean poewrful, the Pilaf gang is also troublesome.

I need to go back and watch the scene again from BoG, but I'm pretty sure Beerus tells Goku that he's one of the weaker Gods when he explains that there are 12 universes with much more powerful guys.

[TheMikado]

It's implied. The Grand Priest specifically states that it's a surprise that two universes with such a low mortal level could produce such great matches, implying that strength is a factor.

That could, and likely does, simply mean they're to be commended for putting on such a good show despite being from backwater universes. It's poverty tourism. It isn't so much "Oh, these universes have good fighters even though you'd expect them to be weak (though perhaps having fewer resources does correspond with that)," it's "My, even these poor universes showing us they have something worth presenting to Zeno."

Universes 9 and 7 aren't up first because of strength, at least from anything we know now, but likely because they're first on the chopping block/most expandable should the exhibition match not go as planned.

I think the point is we have to make a lot of assumptions to make it not mean power levels. It's easier to just assume the fairly implied meaning until the show explicitly explains it.

[Kastex]

So...did Goku and the gang screw themselves over by killing Frieza, Cell, Dabura, Tagoma, King Cold, Dr. Gero, 19(if he counts), the Ginyus, Zarbon, Dodoria, Nappa, Raditz, etc?

i don't think they would have made much of a difference. if AML is really based on planets by averaging inhabitants rather than collective individuals, then some of those guys wouldn't count since they don't live on planets or spend much time on planets.

[Big Black Sayian]

So...did Goku and the gang screw themselves over by killing Frieza, Cell, Dabura, Tagoma, King Cold, Dr. Gero, 19(if he counts), the Ginyus, Zarbon, Dodoria, Nappa, Raditz, etc?

i don't think they would have made much of a difference. if AML is really based on planets by averaging inhabitants rather than collective individuals, then some of those guys wouldn't count since they don't live on planets or spend much time on planets.

Also because that's still a small group compared to the majority of people in U7.

[Booze Sama]

And then the Black arc just made things even more worse. What if the AML is considered by strength? People are losing their minds about it all.